Salesman? Nah ... I was just stating a couple of personal opinions.

Being a salesman would be letting people know that AFPD has by far the best physics, over 1200 free downloads (more then just about all the other commercial sims combined), photorealistic AND 3d flying environments, the only sim you can purchase with or without a radio, breakaway crashes, 2 player mode which features glider towing, lower priced, now setup with variable pitch, foamy flying, built in contests like balloon popping, unlimited model tweaks (not limited to specific models) and dozens upon dozens of other features. Also free shipping and 7 days a week support right here on this forum. 2 support phone centers. Oh and also voted as the Number 1 flight sim by RCU users too!

Now that would have been my sales pitch, if I was being a salesman in my last post.

Now that was a proper sales pitch indeed!

Thank god the Reflex and G3 salesmen don't post in these forums

OK so the "ULTIMATE" sim in my opinion?????.......................

So first is a small list of what's got to be sorted out (ie. get it to as near to reality as possible!) before we can move on to the "Fancy Features" etc...:

1st. Has to be the the flight physics and anything "optional" that detracts from this HAS TO GO[sm=tired.gif]!

2nd. Would be the quality of the scenery, pano of course with no visable image joints [8D] and mapping to die for [X(].

Only two things but they are two very important things.

So now we have got the "basics" sorted I will move on to the "Fancy stuff".

As they come and in no particular order here's what I would add/create/modifiy etc....:

1. A model editor/creator/painter, If you wish to create a model say for AFP or AFPD at the moment you have to use a program called "Metasequoia" or use "Auto CAD" or somthin' this is not simple at all, Metasequoia mainly is in "Welsh" or somthin' and you just feel lost in a world of "I don't know what to do, I just want to build a plane!![][:@]".
So I would have an "all in one" package for simply editing models right to creating and painting models, It would be a simple powerful 3D CAD tool just for the sim! With objects that are made already such as servos, Rx & engines that are setup like the real thing so you have "Futaba" "Hitec" "3W" etc... to chose from. And to make it easier you just "Drag & Drop" the one you select onto your plane, heli or whatever! Anyway you get the idea!

2. And how about some serious effects! Such as up to six smoke cartridges for all of which density and colour can be selected[8D]! Streamers that are coiled up on the wing tips so you can un-coil them via a channel on your Tx in the air[8D]! Again you can select the length and colour etc.. .

3. A multiplayer! with all the features you can think of!

4. Interactive scenery where you have an active peg board, People flying etc.. also you can select what time of the day it is most busy at your field/club. And in real life you have distractions such as when I go down to my main club the lane to access the airfield sometimes conflicts with were we fly due to the windso when someone aproches the field in a car they look to see if anyone's flying if there's someone flying the person in the car gives a quick toot then someone on the field pilot/helper has to give them a wave if there's no one landing, taking off or doing a low pass etc.... the same applys with leaving the field. So you need somthin like that to keep disciplined in safety if you see what I mean????

5. It would also be nice if it could have a internal video capturing (like Fraps but twice as good) system that has an WMA output file type.

6.It would be very good to be able to move around to some extent in panoramic scenery.This would take a lot of work.The way that I believe it could work is to produce a series of panoramic views of the same location but each time moving the camera to the next position.This would therefore create a range of positions limited only by the number of positions from which the images are taken.I know that this facility already exists for some scenery in some sims but it is very limited i.e.about 2 to 5 positions.

All of the above added to somethin' like AFPD would be my "Ultimate" sim.

I estimate it will come out in 4056.

The price will be around 20000 X"!@#^ (for those who are not familiar with the X"@#^ currency it's about $2306000) Ok?

I Like it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will take 2! Can I start making payments now?

Good.

[sm=greedy.gif][sm=greedy.gif][sm=greedy.gif]We will do loans too! 80%APR[sm=greedy.gif]!

But where does the guy with the minigun fit into all this. I WANT BLOOD!

That's the "Active peg board"

just wait till i get on the multiplayer with my synthesized radio![sm=lol.gif]

I might as well give my opinion. It has exactly the same value as every other opinion.

What I want in a simulator is realism and all that that encompasses. I want to feel, as close as humanly possible within the confines of the computer, that I am at the field flying a real model. Computers are perfectly capable of producing the sight and sound and I don't need any more than that.

[ul][*] I want realistic physics. I want the simulated models to react exactly like the real model would. I want an .049 model to behave totally different from a big gasser. I want size to matter. I want the effects of the wind, updrafts, and turbulence to be realistic and more pronounced on smaller models. I want realism.[*] I want photo-realism in the sceneries and I want the scenerie to be reactive. If I fly into a tree, I want my plane to crash and I want it to tear apart and stay in the tree, unless of course it hits at a point where it would fall free. [*] I want more realism in the model itself. I want to be able to fly out 200 yards and the plane get smaller but still look like a model airplane rather than a spot.[*] I want a model editor that is more user friendly than Metasequoia. I want it to have a wizard so that I can select the size of the model, length, wingspan, chord, etc., and give me a template to begin work. I want to be able to build on this template and design the simulated model. I want to add the engine and radio of my choice. These don't necessarily have to be shown but will be used for the model editor to calculate the weight of the finished model and the flight characteristics. Then I want to be able to adjust the weight if I feel that the model editor is wrong and to be able to adjust the flight characteristics if necessary. When I maiden my plane, I want to have to adjust the trims on the first flight before it will fly straight and level. I expect the same of any model that I download. Afterall, it is a new model.[*] I want the view to be first person only. I don't fly my models from the cockpit or from a chase plane so I have no need for that.[*] I want the ability to fly with others. I have never done that with a simulator but without that ability, the simulator would not reach the realism that I want. When others are flying with me at my field, I want to see them and their models if they would normally be in my field of vision and I want them to be looking toward their models.[*] I want all the pitfalls of doing a poor landing. If I land too hard, I want to break the prop and tear the landing gear off. If I come up short and hit in the waist-high weeds, I want it to kill the engine, flip upside down in the weeds, and poke holes in the covering. If I come in too high and end up in the corn field, I want the wings to get knocked off.[*] If I crash, I want the image to depict something closely resembling a crashed model. I want to feel like I have really crashed. If I decide to fly the same model again, it will have to be a new or rebuilt model to replace the crashed one and once again, it will have to go through maiden flight.[*] Finally, I want a realistic price tag on the package. I want it to be available at a price that the average modeler can afford it without having to give up his next model or next radio system that he has been dreaming about for several weeks.
[/ul]

That is all I want. I know that that is very simplistic but I am a simple type person. It is how I live my life. It is how I approached projects as an engineer and now as a software developer. I believe it keeping it simple. Did I mention that I want realism? I may have forgotten that part. If I were developing a simulator, these are the things that I would be trying to put into it. It would not be a game but be a realistic simulator, a tool that all modelers could use to improve their skills.

ILMAO!!!

Now that is great stuff Howard! Thanks for sharing your ideas! Your Sim sounds like a sure fire winner to me!

My dream rc sim would be AFPD with multiplayer support.....how simple is that !


John

what about physics?

Same here except a 14MZ! I can hear it raining models already!

......I have some more to add to the things that I put in post #29:

7. In AFPD at moment when you use the internal editor some times you alter somethin' in a way that it doesn't like[:@], so you when you go to try it out the plane/heli or whatever it sort of sinks into the ground and flaps around[X(]! as though it is saying "I am going to die cuz you altered my wingspan to 0.0[>:]", rather than doing the real thing: sitting there quietly not moving with no wings!. So it would be nice if it reacted in the real way[8D]!

8. Real weather like on MFS2004, so you can have the actual real time weather thats hovering over your field right now[8D][sm=drowning.gif][sm=eek.gif]!!!! And you can also alter it manually, cuz my field is always set to "Dark stormy cloud" setting and "80mph" wind[]!

more ideas coming soon!........................................... .................................................. ............

Greg.

i would buy it but i aint waiting 3 months till i can fly a 40% on my sim....

good idea though......

J

I agree with almost all of the wish-lists. However, realism is the primary selling point for me. Real weather, that would be nice - I own all three major sims discussed and have to say I have never been able to configure ANY of them to have a TRUE feel of changing weather and airflow. G3 comes the closest. However, I am not just talking about wind-speed, direction, collision or convection layers. I am talking about barometric pressure, humidity, temperature, etc. For those of you who want it REAL, for those who want to TRULY test airplane/heli setups, this is the only way that is possible. Your DA150 or your OS .46 is not going to run the same on a 70deg day at sea level as it is at 95 deg 90% RH at 2200' MSL. Moving clouds in different layers is nice - as are the trees. You may not use them, or THINK you don't, but I do. I fly foamies, gliders and IMAC and trust me I use all the sights and sounds of MOVING AIR - planes don't fly without it and are sometimes even at its mercy.

You want physics? I want physics !!! The model is already around, has been for YEARS. Was once even available commercially. Some of you may know or remember an aerobatic flight simulator called Flight Unlimited. I'm not talking about FU II or III or any of that stuff that was trying to compete against Microsoft FS. I am talking about the very first FU which had a Pitts, Su, Extra, Grob glider, etc. Those guys didn't play with vector tables - the way almost all flight physics are derived. These guys modeled the environment. Mass, inertia, NACA foils, incidence, CG, weather, it was all there. The particle system - smoke, etc. was all manipulated by the full fluid dynamic model that they had built. You could model a plate of jello and it would fall, impact a surface with the collision model and the jello would, well, you know - JIGGLE. This sim had an instructor training system thats AI would react to your flight inputs. It could grade individual figures - loops, rolls, hammers, etc. and show you what you were doing wrong. Gyroscopic procession, P-factor, torque - all properly modeled and impacting the way the aircraft flew. Take it from a former IAC competition pilot, for it's time - well over a decade ago - it was close to heaven for someone who lives in Ohio and has a greatly reduced flying (practice and competition) season. All of this magic ran well on a then 286 or 386 system with 256MB or less. As i said - MAGIC. Find those guys, by the way, all flew full-scale but I think some also flew RC, and I would almost be willing to pay radio or airplane prices for something that could be produced. Only thing I would have EVER added to the wish-list of that piece of software would have been a competition model. A way for muliplayer - real-time or even time shift - judging and flying of complete known and unknown sequences. Not having that probably saved my life though, I would have never left the house - LOL.

Oh and for those nay sayers' of G3 while it has it's own problems, on bad weather days I practice for competitions more with G3 than any other sim. Reflex gets a close nod (because G3 will not run on my current laptop, and shame on KE for that) but as an IMAC and freestyle pilot some sims are WAY to easy to fly. I can fly pattern or 3d, TR's waterfalls, H Alpha rollers - OK got the thumbs for them. But I assure you that NOT EVERYONE does. I am the only one at my club who competes at the level I do. I am the only one at my club who flys like I do - and I fly at least 1 hour EVERY day real or simulated - nobody there does eye level rollers like me at the field, but many of them love to do them on some sims. Why? fear factor is part of it, but the truth is - THEY CAN'T. Even in G3 multi-player - with the TWEAKED out planes some of those folks fly - they TR with the best of them. In real life... well, I guess it's just not real life.

Sorry for the long wind, got on a roll 'er' and it got good to me. Check out Flight Unlimited though, it's worth the Google.

is the free simulator from FMS or GWS or whatever worth downloading, if it is where do you buy the patch cord?